The mistake most people make in formulating an opinion on hit funk-pop band DNCE is to focus on the fact that it’s led by former Jonas Brothers singer Joe Jonas – as if the former boy-band connection disqualifies it from being legit funk.

And certainly some of the appeal of DNCE’s concert that concluded its North American tour Thursday at Sands Bethlehem Event Center had a strong element of pop appeal -- as evidenced by the shrieking younger contingent among the smallish crowd of what looked like less than 1,500.

But those who actually listened to the 18-song concert heard a band that has merged pop and funk in a really fun, entertaining and musically sound way.

That shouldn’t be a surprise. Guitarist JinJoo Lee, bassist Cole Whittle and drummer Jack Lawless all have musical cred, touring with Cee Lo Green, Charlie XCX and Semi Precious Weapons, as well as the Jonas Brothers.

So when the concert opened with the band’s “Naked” and “DNCE,” the songs were funky, forceful and fun, filled with energy and wicked grooves.

And the band played them all with tons of energy – Lee and Whittle literally rolling on the floor (and Whittle kicking his legs) while playing the good new single “Body Moves.”

PHOTO GALLERY: DNCE in concert at the Sands Event Center in Bethlehem on Thursday night.

(BRINE HINELINE / SPECIAL TO THE MORNING CALL)

“Who came to have a good time?” Jonas asked before one of the night’s better songs, the chanty “Zoom” (several of DNCE’s songs have a chant element to them; not unlike – gulp – James Brown’s peak work). And then Jonas shot a T-shirt gun – the first of at least four times he did that – before a shower of confetti.

Of course, all that energy and hooky music wouldn’t mean nearly as much if the band wasn’t as good as it was. Lees showed how good she was on “Doctor You,” playing a psychedelic scratch. Whittle even fast-rapped part of “Blown.”

And Lee went off on a very good solo on another of the night’s best songs, the gold single “Toothbrush” – funky, well-played and well-sung.

Just when it seemed as if there would be too much funk, DNCE slowed it down for a mid-show, largely acoustic, three-song mini-set, sitting on stools. “Why not save the best for last,” Jonas said, noting it was the last night of the tour.

“Tastefully,” slow and studied, sounded like the best of the Jonas Brothers’ material. “Jinx,” a slow, nicely romantic song, also was good. And “Almost” was just Jonas’s voice and Lee’s guitar before the rest of the band kicked in to a full rock finish.

A word about Jonas’ voice. It also shouldn’t be dismissed because of its boy-band past. Jonas has strong pop vocals, and even hit Timberlake-like falsetto on a few occasions.

Of course, DNCE has just one album, and it played all 14 songs from it – including the less-successful “Unsweet,” which was stretched to six minutes with band introductions and solos.

It filled out the rest of the set with some fun covers – a bit of the Lenny Kravitz version of “American Woman” during the ersatz S&M thumper “Be Mean”; snippets of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” and George Michael’s “Freedom” leading into the very chanty and poppy (and positive) “Good Day.”

The main set closed with another of the better songs, the thumpy, funky “Pay My Rent,” which also was stretched to five minutes with the clichéd “audience sing-along contest” and fake money being shot out of Jonas’ T-shirt gun and confetti cannons.

The encore started with a medley of more covers: Spice Girls’ “Wannabe,” Britney Spears’ ”Oops … I Did it Again” and Kanye West’s “Fade.”

That also was fun, but pointed out one of the night’s negatives. DNCE entire performance lasted just 70 minutes. It seemed the band should have done more for the Bethlehem audience after abruptly rescheduling the show’s original Feb. 4 date to instead play a Super Bowl party for Maxim magazine.

That no doubt also affected the attendance – rescheduling what was a Friday night show for a school night.

But all that seemed forgiven when DNCE ended with a four-minute version of its triple-platinum hit “Cake by the Ocean.’ The song was bursting with energy – Jonas started it standing on the drum riser and dropping the f-bomb in the lyrics, and Whittle playing behind his head and swinging his bass while Lee played screaming guitar.

The crowd sang and jumped along in ecstasy. It was far more than just a former boy band star.